March 2011 – Page 2 – Lizard Hands

BIG wastes of space?

This week for Thursday, we were assigned readings on retailers, one of them being this article on The Wall Street Journal. According to the article, Home Depot, Sears, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart – famous “Big Boxes” are all going for smaller stores. From my perspective, when the Box is too big, people get distracted or irritated – focus on the customer expectations (which does not equate to their wants or desires). I agree with what this post on the Canadian Marketing Blog which says, “the new generation has different needs.” Recent demographics (Boomers – Gen X/Y) and economic changes (downturn) have had a big impact on the way people shop now.

To add on to the post, I think it can be disadvantageous at times when there is too much choice. When there is too much to choose between, it can be hard to know where to start at times and it generally ends up taking more time to choose. Like the Wall Street Journal article mentioned, these big box retailers don’t need to have every variety of pens for a customer to be satisfied. Customers are not likely to be browse-shopping (with leisure time) in, for example, Staples to find a preferable pen. There just needs to be a few basic pens and a few special ones of a reasonable quality and design and price in the store when they get there. This way, retailers could eliminate decision and finding time for the customer and rent and inventory (as well as other associated) costs. The rest can be bought from a Big Box or online (especially since this type of product does not require trying or personal observation like clothing and cars do).

The Canadian Marketing Blog post brings up a good point. The market has been saturated with Big Box retailers and now it needs to change. “Small is back in style.” This blog post was written two years ago in March 2009 whereas the article was written March of this year, and according to it, there are big plans about to emphasize smaller stores by 2012.

An example I can especially relate to (I’m a bookworm!), a large bookstore like Chapters versus the ebook readers and sites like Amazon.com.

Source: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/ereading/devices/kobo-ereader-onyx/

as opposed to

Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SIn9ea2W6HQ/ScOr1EQ57SI/AAAAAAAAAWg/xCkBK4qNvn0/s1600/PT%2Bin%2BChapters.jpg

Making it more than just a good

Source: http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/

It’s white! (and black, but really… White!)
Source: http://www.apple.com/ipad/features

Today’s mention in class of the cheaper iPhone also reminded me that there is a new iPad coming out.

I think one of the key things that really differentiates Apple’s products from their competitors are the complementary products they also produce just for their product. Like Craig Grannell mentions in his article on techradar.com, it’s “Not about specs.” And to start with, other competitors can’t even reach the iPad’s specs yet. He says that specs are useless if you have no medium or tool to use them with, and I think he’s absolutely right. Personally, I really don’t understand what specs mean other than that usually the higher the number, the better – like say dual core, and an A5 processor. And 2 cameras in the front and back – yay… so what? So I can use Photo Booth or iMovie – YAY!

And Apple’s really leveraging the fact that they’re the first mover in this market. They’ve really added and communicated value for their product. The easy user-friendly interface and matching apps and gadgets require little explanation, especially their one button design. Most people already have a sense of think they know what they’re getting when they buy the Apple iPad without even having to look up for information or reviews. In terms of pricing, I’d also say they’ve been customer oriented. And the fact that they have so many complementary products (and poor substitutions) probably decreases their price elasticity of demand as well.

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On a side note: Here’s an especially interesting complementary product: the iPad Smart Cover. It protects the sensitive touch screen while staying thin and easily removable (and yet it’s still attached). And beyond that, it does more than cover, it folds back to be a stand! It’s one of those kinds of complementary products that show that the designers of this gadget have really thought about the user-friendliness of their product. It possibly adds value to the product even without purchase as a complementary product. It’s the fact that you have the choice of a slim cover over a thick case as well as the thought that has been put into everything. I don’t think I am an advocate (or even a fan) of Apple products, but I really do admire their designs at times.

Source: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/ereading/devices/kobo-ereader-onyx/

Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SIn9ea2W6HQ/ScOr1EQ57SI/AAAAAAAAAWg/xCkBK4qNvn0/s1600/PT%2Bin%2BChapters.jpg

Source: http://www.apple.com/ipad/smart-cover/